I'm working on getting xml-rpc.el working with the CVS version of w3.el. We will then be able to use blogger.el in emacs21. It isn't going to be as difficult as I thought, though I am trying to decide exactly how to do it. Should the functionality be in two different libraries, or should it be in one library that figures out which w3.el it is running with? Either is possible, but I think from the user end dynamically determining which is which is better.
In other development news, I wrote a perl replacement for the Java transformer in XAE. I sent the patches to the creator of the package, but haven't heard back.
I also sent them to the maintainer of the Debian package, and he seemed thrilled. Of course, it should make his job easier. The creator of XAE bundled the docbook stylesheets and did some unconventional stuff for the purpose of making it easy to install. All that work just gets in the way when you want to re-package the software, though.
Paul Sanders is working on two documented, but not implemented, functions in blogger.el — the template editting functions. Along with my re-write of xml-rpc.el, this should be a release worth announcing. I mean, of course, to gnu.emacs.sources.
David Rogers responded to my comments about branding and how he integrates that with caring about people. Specifically:
I choose not to work in branding endeavors that involve products and services that are harmful to others. Nor will I do branding work where there is dishonesty and manipulation. That kinda narrows down the job possibilities, doesn't it?
David also mentions that one of the clients he has is an old brand trying to
transform the company's products and services in such a way that what customers think and feel about it are congruent with reality. Rather than telling customers what they should think or feel about it, the company lets them discover and develop it on their own through their experience with the company's products, services and people. This is a "Customer First" branding strategy.
I can certainly respect that. He's right, branding in and of itself isn't manipulative, but it can be used to manipulate, just like computers can be used for neferious purposes.
Now for something distinctly unpopular. I read this piece by Maureen Dowd this morning in our paper. She rants about patriarchy and the evil it entails. And, inasmuch as men have suppressed and abused women, I'll agree patriarchy is a bad thing. But, too often this is simply used as an argument to put women into positions that are exclusively male.
The premise of this common argument seems to be that if we just allowed the other gender into these "power" roles, it would end the abuse that people in these positions perform.
Why do we have this idea? We see abuses perpetrated by women every day, where mothers kill their children and teachers have sex with their students. Are these abuses not perpetrated by the incumbent matriarchy?
So, while Ms. Dowd has some good points, sick things don't happen simply because because women are oppressed and the answer to abuse is not as simple as "let in the women". To say that is to idealize the feminine, to ignore the feminine capacity for evil.
By the way, Jennifer L. Balderama provoked me to post this with her comments yesterday on the Dowd article.
I'm amazed at how easy it is to write working, clean lisp code in elisp using emacs. It is a very nice environment for writing code.
I have a working xml-rpc.el for emacs21... At least up to a point. I'm going to try to get some beta-testing done before I let it go wild.